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Posted on: 2009/11/10

xthe InterviewxPONY RYDER: Hi Randall. It's hard to start with you - your CV is huge! Let's go with the basics: how long have you been working as a photographer?

RANDALL SLAVIN: I think I’ve been a photographer for 7 or 8 yrs.

Heather Graham

x

PR: How did u become a photographer?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: Well, I was a struggling LA actor for a few years and I was working at a gas station across the street from a headshot photography studio.

We at the gas station would watch the beautiful girls go in and out of the studio. I wandered over there one day and struck up a friendship with the owner of the studio who promptly hired me to shoot actors headshots.

I said I didn’t know anything about photography, but he asked if I thought I had “an eye”. He said the technical stuff is the easy stuff.

So, I shot tons and tons of actors in LA. Some who have become huge-huge Oscar winners... We always get a kick when we run into each other now…So, I did that for many years while i was trying to be an actor. Never wanting too be a professional photographer. Just doing it to make money while I failed at being an actor...

Jessica Biel

xPR: I'm lost. First you were an actor. How was that. Any movies we know?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: I was in a few bad ‘90s tv shows. You know, dumb shit. 90210, etc. I had very - very small parts in some good big movies... Nothing too astounding.

PR: You are also a “tattoo collector”. Did you get them working on a station?

xxRANDALL SLAVIN: No, I got the tattoos after I stopped trying to be an actor. I had visual freedom.

Jolene Blalockm

PR: Doesyour experienceas anactor help you when workingwith actors?

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RANDALL SLAVIN: I think it helped me immensely when I was starting out. I felt that I could tell when an actor was uncomfortable physically with something. Or I knew what would make me at ease during a shoot. Also, it helped me out because when I tried to be a “real’ photographer i already had some celebrities in my portfolio.

Charlize Theron

PR: Who taught you about photography? Did you enroll in a photography course/school later on?

x

RANDALL SLAVIN: No, I never took any classes or anything although I wish I had. I still know so little technically about photography but I think I make up for it by having a pretty solid knowlege of the history of fashion/ portrait photography.x

PR: How much did you know about photography before you started?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: I didnt know anything, but , I was obsessed with photos of certain actors. I have been hugley influenced by Dennis Stocks photos of James Dean. Roy Schatts photos of Dean and William Claxton stuff of Steve Mcqueen were all enormous early influences on me before I ever picked up a camera.

Joy Bryant& Randall Slavin

PR: How did you manage to master the lighting? xRANDALL SLAVIN: Don’t know anything about lighting but I know where to find the greatest crew in the world. They know everything.xPR: How do you feelabout the use of photoshop?xRANDALL SLAVIN: I love photoshop just so long as you don’t notice it. Also, you have to use photoshop when working with actresses or they will never work with you again. I just try to keep it unnoticeable. Keep the skin looking like skin. LA photographers have a terrible reputation for being a bit extreme in the photoshopping.

x

PR: Speaking of photoshop, you worked with both models&actresses. Does a perfect body exist?xRANDALL SLAVIN: Yes.

RANDALL SLAVIN: Boy, you sure have done your research! I hate using a tripod because I like to move! I don’t know what the shot is going to be before we start working. I like to have a rough idea of what it might be but then things happen and we start this lil’ dance and then surprises happen!

And the final shot could be nothing like what we started out doing. xAnd equipment doesn’t mean shit. Ask Terry Richardson. Ask Helmut Newton. There are 500 photographers on the Lower East Side shooting exactly like Terry but only Terry’s pictures have that magic.

The camera I use now costs 1/3 what the camera I was using 3 years ago cost.

Nicole Trunfio

PR:Who or what inspires you?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: I get inspired by beauty. Crazy overwhelming faces. I’m sort of obsessed with faces. I find such comfort and peace in staring at faces. It's weird. I just get awestruck by a beautiful face. It kills me.x

PR:Where wereyou published?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: My first magazine appearance was a girl in a dress by an unknown designer who hadn’t yet graduated from design school. It was a little pink dress and the designer was Zac Posen and the magazine was NY Times magazine. Not a bad start.

Lydia Hearst

PR: Do you think that a city like LA is a more suited market for your type of photography rather than NY?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: I would love to be a fashion photographer, but, I live in LA and no one takes fashion photographer in LA seriously, so I decided to do celebrity stuff. It’s great though. I love talented people and sometimes its an honor to spend the day with some of the people I’ve encountered.xPR: Who is thestylist that you work with the most?xRANDALL SLAVIN: I rarely get to pick the stylist for my jobs as the actor usually has someone that they will only work with, so, I just go with whoever is attached to the star. I’ve always enjoyed working with Rachel Zoe though. She’s fuckin’ great.x

PR: Do you have an assistant?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: I have a great crew that I work with. O.t.m.f.c. they make my job look great. Usually between 2 and 4 people depending on the budget.

Amy Hixon

HOLLYWOODxPR: Is it easier to work with a model or an actress?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: It's much easier to work with a model. Most actors loathe still photo shoots whereas models do it every day. Also, a model will do whatever the photographer asks of them whereas an actor won't. If an actor doesn’t want to do something they won't do it. Period.

Eva Longoria

PR: How does a petite actress, like Eva Longoria, manage to look so tall in photos?

RANDALL SLAVIN: Haha... Well, we can make someone as tall as we want once we get in front of the computer!

PR: Are you more into “height” or “beauty”?

RANDALL SLAVIN: Beauty trumps height any day for me. I love great skin and a direct gaze...yummy.

Charlize Theron

PR: Charlize Theron worked as a model before starting out as an actress and you did a photoshoot with her. Is it easier to work with an actress who had experience in modeling?

RANDALL SLAVIN: Yes, Charlize is amazing in front of the camera 'cuz she has both; height and face. She is all legs.

She also did fairly well as a model in her late teens, so she really knows how to work her face and eyes and body. She knows also that taking great photos is a part of her job. There aren’t any great celebrities in the world who don’t know how to take a good photo.

Charlize Theron

PR: The shoot resulted in some of the best imagesof Charlize Theron we’ve seen!How easy ordifficult wasit to selectthe best images of such an iconic Hollywoodstar and style icon?

RANDALL SLAVIN:With the Charlize shoot in the desert we had soooo many pictures!! My God- she was such a trooper that day and worked from 5 am until 9 pm.

I’m pretty instinctual when it comes to picking the shots though. I flip through them super fast and usually what catches my eye is what I stick with. I don’t belabor the process at all.

Heather Graham

PR:You did a wonderful spread with actress Heather Graham. Tell us more about that particular shootand your idea behind it…

RANDALL SLAVIN:Well, I tend to like people sad, and alone and distracted by something else out of frame. There aren’t a lot of smiley shots in my portfolio.

It was for an anniversary issue so I wanted Heather to imagine that she had awoken at this hotel the morning after a huge party and everyone had left and she was wandering around trying to figure out what happened. ‘The last person on earth’ seems to be a theme in my shoots...ha

Neil Patrick Harris

PR: Wow, I spent the entire interview speaking about women. What about actors… how do youlike to capture them?

RANDALL SLAVIN: Men are easy. Guys just want to look cool. And they don’t smile. It’s great!

Ryan Gosling

PR: I was impressed with Ryan Gosling… but then again, I’m under the impression of Notebook. How about you?

RANDALL SLAVIN: He was great. It was very quick. Ryan didn’t want any styling, or make up or anything. He had a slight interest in photography, so, we talked a bit about that. He was very simple. Just showed up. Sat down bang bang bang “thank you very much” no muss no fuss.

John Krasinski

PR: This may seemlike a silly question… but are you happier to see your work on the cover of a magazine or in an editorial spread? Which photoshoot are you most proud of?

xRANDALL SLAVIN: It's always nice to pass a newsstand and see your work popping out. I get most proud of certain photoshoots based more on the circumstances that went into it rather than the final image. xIf it was a really stressful shoot or the conditions where terrible but we still managed to pull off a great shot. Those things are what stick with me. Or if we had a little window of time but still did an amazing story. Those are the ones I’m most proud of.

Anna Christine

MODELS x

PR:You worked with the much talkedabout model Anna Christine! Why do you think there is so much buzz about her?

RANDALL SLAVIN: I didn’t know there was buzz about her!!! Really? I was sent her poloroid’s by her agent and I just flipped over her blinding sexiness. I couldn’t stop thinking about her face. (see? I love faces) she was incredible. So full of life and spontaneity. I don’t think she like me much though.....C

PR: OK.I'm sure that's not true... And from all the models, who did you like working with the most?

RANDALL SLAVIN: I would love to shoot Anna again. Im really crazy about her. I just shot this new girl Jasmine Tookes who blew me away... I would love to get Shalom Harlow in front of my camera again....

Lindsey Wixon

PR: One of the many girls that youworked with is Lindsey Wixon, who is now a top new face, both on the runway and in prestigious editorials!Did you have a strong reaction to her look, thinking she would become a major star that she is today?

RANDALL SLAVIN:When I first saw Lindseys poloroid I didn’t get it. She was in LA with her mom on a school break so she came over to my studio and we chatted for a bit and I popped off some quick shots and she had such a connection with the camera that I immediately was on the Wixson bandwagon telling everyone I could about this girl .xThen I was shooting the Genetic denim campaign and was desperate to get Lindsey to do it. She hadn’t yet gone to NY and was back in Kansas and I begged and pleaded with the company to use her and they were so hesitant to take a chance on this 15 yr old girl who they couldn’t meet in person. I swore to them that she would be a major player within the next year and they relented.<

xLindsey was so amazing for Genetic...she showed me a whole side of herself that I didn’t know she had. There was such a classic beauty to her that i hadn’t seen prior. People are going to be amazed by this girl. She’s a fucking rock star.

PR: Wherecan we find more diva attitude, among musicians oractors or maybe even models?

x

RANDALL SLAVIN: Hip/hop divas, baby!! No one throws more attitude than an R&B star in a Dolce and Gabbana gown.

Vanessa Redgrave

XBONUSX

PR: I wonder, since you are working with both us and Europeanmodels/actors/musicians… besides the language difference… do you feel there are differences in behavior as well?

xRANDALL SLAVIN: Not really, everyone is after the same piece of cake.xxPR: Your hopes Randall… what’s next on your agenda?x

RANDALL SLAVIN: I'm working on a show right now. I can’t give too many details.. In LA and NYC. A series of portraits of iconic figures of today. We have a pretty amazing collection. It's really been an amazing experience to shoot some of these people. Some of these legends. X

Everything in the show will be shot exclusively for this project and all the proceeds of the sales will go to theCharlize Theron African Outreach Project. Im super excited about it and it has been an incredible journey.

Charlize Theron

PR: What makesone a great photographer?RANDALL SLAVIN:Unrequited love and obsession.xPR: Hey Randall, why do you like Pony Ryder…

RANDALL SLAVIN: Who the hell is Pony Ryder? This is for American Photo, right?!? (you rock, PR)

Charlize Theron

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ALL PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN "RANDALL SLAVIN-the interview" INTERVIEW ARE PROPERTY OF RANDALL SLAVIN.